Never pass up a chance to sit down or relieve yourself.
-old Apache saying

Thursday, July 28, 2016

DNC Day 4

So Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman ever nominated for President by one of the two major political parties. It's historic. Monumental. Exciting. Her acceptance speech was electrifying, if you're a Democrat.

You could contrast the two conventions simply: hate from the Republicans, love from the Democrats. That's how it seems to me. Obviously, many of the haters on the right won't see it that way at all. They despise Hillary with a palpable and irrational hate. Sadly, they have been fed a steady diet of propaganda, lies and vitriol about Hillary by their main source of news - FOX News - for so long now, their hatred is almost understandable. Irrational and wrong, but understandable. If you only rely on FOX, that's what you get.

In his speech on Tuesday, Day 2, Bill Clinton called it "the cartoon Hillary." Then he went on to say that the convention nominated the "real Hillary."

The differences between Trump and Clinton are also stark. I have to believe that enough Republicans will "come around" and reject Trump at the ballot box. I also have to hope that not too many Democrats defect to a third party, or not vote at all to protest Hillary.

We still have 100+ days until Election day (which ought to be a national fucking holiday!!) and we are likely to see all sorts of crazy shit between now and then. The upcoming debates will probably score some of the highest viewership on record.

And while who wins the election will have far-reaching implications and effects, I wish I could say I trusted the counting of the votes. Most of this country is using electronic and unverifiable machines which have been shown to be easily hackable. The stakes of this election are very high. The temptation to cheat is also great.

And one of the big things we learned from the DNC last night: Bill Clinton likes balloons. He's got to be pretty damn proud of his wife at this point, as if he wasn't already. My final hope is that no nut with a gun decides to off the first female Presidential candidate. There are lots and lots and lots of weapons around this country.

Remember you can see all the speeches on demand at C-SPAN.org.

Oh, almost forgot, you should really watch Khizr Khan speak, an American Muslim whose 25-year-old son was killed in Afghanistan in 2004. This Muslim gives Donald Trump a lesson on the U.S. Constitution. Khan is making the media rounds after the speech.

Occasionally Clickable Quotes and/or Jokes

If we are honest - and scientists have to be - we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of God is a product of the human imagination. If religion is still being taught, it is by no means because its ideas still convince us, but simply because some of us want to keep the lower classes quiet.

Public prayer is not intended to promote religious values, but to enhance the authority of some churches and some political views over others. Similarly with the posting of the Ten Commandments. It is about power, not about religion. Government by Christian or Islamic or any other faith has rarely been progressive. And the Constitution clearly intends that there should be freedom from religion.